


one good turn

by EnigmaticSplendor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Shila/Pidge, Break Up, Confusion, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Langst, M/M, Miscommunication, New Relationship, One-sided pining, Post-Break Up, background Shay/Hunk - Freeform, poor communication
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-03 08:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13336878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnigmaticSplendor/pseuds/EnigmaticSplendor
Summary: Sometimes in life, you need a favor. And sometimes, also in life, that favor turns into a series of favors and obligations that you couldn't foresee when you needed your first favor.But at least there are free drinks.aka the one where they fake date (except it's really more complicated than that).





	one good turn

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I wrote this for a writing event but I started to have too much fun writing it and split it up into chapters to share here instead. Please enjoy~

Things weren't… they weren't going well. Maybe they hadn't been for a while. Lance isn't dumb, contrary to popular belief. He knows when something will go wrong. He can read the writing on the wall, but he hopes that they can keep it together for a little longer. Hopes that  they can make it work until finals are over at least. That's all he dares to hope for with the way things are going.

It's too stressful a time for him to deal with a break up, especially one as bad as this one seems to be building up to. He's under so much pressure with so much work coming due that he's barely making it through now.

Lance knows that Kevin is tired. Knows that he's stressed too and depressed about not getting in to the nursing program and his band breaking up. It's been a rough semester for both of them. Junior year is always rough.

So he's been told.

But if they can make it through finals than they can make it through anything. Maybe if this rough patch blows over then it'll make all the struggle worth it.

Besides break ups suck in general, it's better to avoid them unless you, like, hate the other person. They're not necessary unless it's unbearable or you're moving or something.

He's almost certain that Kevin  _ doesn't  _ hate him. And there's no plans for a move yet so things should be fine. It should all fall into place nicely and be generally happy and peaceful. Ideal, even.

So he doesn't worry about it. He lets himself relax into the all too familiar stress of finals and bathe in that particular brand of despair, relationship woes on the back burner because really? Finals are too big to push off to the side.

Maybe it’s because he lets himself get too comfortable, complacent. Lance should have seen it coming a mile away, should have tried to keep it discreet, to stop it from happening altogether. Risk aversion isn’t his strong suit, it never was.

But hindsight is 20/20, everything falls into place in the dining hall when Kevin had other plans pulls up a chair beside him in the dining hall.

 

"Hey." His his tone is cool, expression a little to hard and still to read. Lance tries to ignore the hard knot of discomfort that settles into his stomach and focus on the positives instead. They’re spending a little time together. It’s okay, it’s fine.

 

"Hey babe." He smiles, a bit nervously, but he’s warm and genuine with it. He hopes it’s okay.

Kevin didn’t come with a tray, or a drink, or even a plate. His bookbag, light and empty as it may be, is still on his back.

Lance, reaches his hand out to place it on his shoulder, opening his mouth to ask him how his day’s been going, but before he can get the words out Kevin’s already talking. 

 

"I've been thinking," he starts, loudly enough for a few people to turn their heads to watch. "You're a bit of clinger you know? You always wanna hug and hold hands like it's kindergarten. I get that we're dating but it's a bit much, don't you think?" 

 

A hot flush of shame colors Lance's face, he pulls his hand back as if he’s been burned.

"Could we, uh, talk about this somewhere else?"

It feels like everyone is looking at them now. Like they're moments away from pointing and laughing at this spectacle in front of them.

 

"See, that's another thing too. You never want to deal with anything head on or own your shit. You never take me seriously when I want to tell you about what I don't like and it's bullshit." Kevin's tone is just shy of yelling but getting there. 

 

Lance's wants to turn his head to see if the people whispering behind him are even talking about them but he can't bring himself to do it. There’s a lump in his throat, growing bigger and bigger with each moment. He wants to ask him speak more quietly, to go somewhere else to hash this out, but he knows that won’t go over well. 

 

"I just don't think this relationship is going anywhere, or that it could even go anywhere with the way you act. I know this might come as a surprise to you but I don't want to spend the rest of my college experience tiptoeing around your sensitive and delicate feelings every time we go out." 

 

There's little pinpricks of tears stinging the back of Lance's eyes but he pretends it's just the air conditioner, wrapping his jacket around himself more closely. He bites the inside of his lip to stop himself from saying anything he’ll regret. 

 

"Okay," Lance says, embarrassingly proud that his voice doesn't crack. "That's fair”. 

 

It's not, but what else can he say? 

 

He pulls out his phone to check the time but realizes he can't even make out the numbers on the screen. His vision is swimming, he can feel his eyes filling up more and more with tears each passing second and knows he has to get out of here soon before he makes a fool of himself. 

 

"Oh god, I have a meeting with a professor in ten," he lies. "I’ve gotta go." 

 

He grabs his tray and makes a hasty retreat, failing to ignore the way Kevin rolled his eyes and the frenzied whispers of the tables surrounding them.

 

His neck feels hot as he tosses his cup and empty plates into the bin. There are so many eyes on him right now. He knows it. Lance’s heart races in his chest as rushes out of the dining hall. Before he can stop them tears are streaming down his face, blurring his vision more and more with each step.

He wishes he was stronger. Strong enough not to cry, to hold the tears until he’s back in the safety of his dorm.

Lance’s to afraid to look back at the dining hall or wipe his face, he knows the floor length clear glass windows of the dining hall make him painfully visible. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he couldn’t manage a five minute walk back to his dorm.

 

Mortified as he is, the walk is better for him than staying would have been but it's hard to feel good about anything, even the silver linings, when he was just…

God he can’t even think about it.

 

When he finally gets to his room he really breaks down. Flops down on his bed with big, whole body sobs. As lonely as it is he’s glad Hunk’s not home yet. Glad he won’t have to relive it so soon to tell his best friend exactly what happened and how it happened and how awful it feels and how he maybe wishes he’d died instead of having to deal with just everything.

 

He can’t tell Hunk that it’s his fault, that he'd known for a while that this wasn’t working, that is was going to end soon. He’d known it wouldn’t last but he wasn't expecting it to go that way. Kevin had been critical but never so badly and never in public, with an actual audience watching.

He’d thought he would be private about wanting to end things. That it could be okay and maybe they could still be friends in the end. If he’d known that Kevin want him humiliated like that… Wanted to hurt him so publicly…

 

* * *

 

“He did what?!” Pidge shouted, face impossibly red.

Hunk just looks on, jaw basically on the floor.

Lance tries to laugh it off, “It's okay, don't worry, it wasn't a serious relationship.”

Hunk instantly pulls him into a hug, “I know you're trying to minimize the pain by minimizing the relationship you but that's not healthy man, feel these emotions.”

Lance lets himself settle into the hug a bit more, turning it into a full-on, much needed, cuddle sesh. “I mean it was a dick move the way-” his voice cracks, throat tight with emotion,“-the way it happened but it's over now. Water under the bridge.”

 

“Uh, to call it a ‘dick move’ would be the understatement of the century. That was the lunch rush, Lance, people saw! He made a shitty choice to hurt you  _ on purpose _ . This isn't ‘water under the bridge’ material!”

 

“I know Pidge, I was there! It was awful and I-” His face flushes as his eyes go glassy with tears. “I feel awful okay? I hate this, and I hate him for doing that to me, okay?”

“Then you should let me slash his tires, it’s only fair!”

“Pidge, come on you can’t slash anyone’s tires! You should empty his dining dollars balance instead and starve him out.” Hunk suggests, rubbing soothing circles on Lance’s back.

“Guys can we not try to kill my boy—ex-boyfriend?” He rubs the last of the tears away, willing his heart to slow down.

“I could put a deep web hit on him right now Lance; it wouldn’t be hard. No one would have to know.”

Lance shakes his head, “That’s terrifying and unnecessary, he’s a senior—”

“Super Senior,” Hunk and Pidge correct him in unison.

 

“Whatever, he’s a senior and whatever happens from here on out doesn’t matter. He won’t have any reason to commute back on to campus this year and I’ll just spend the summer at home with my parents or something, it’s no big deal.”

Pigde and Hunk share a look that tells him that this totally isn’t over yet, but let it go. He hopes that they never bring it back up again so that they can just put it behind them. Maybe seeing how upset he is now will buy him more time, give him a chance to work through it before they plan a murder on his behalf.

Finals is a time of blessings, ironically. He doesn’t have time to grieve or think about… the incident. He doesn’t go to the dining hall either, just picks up food from the restaurant near his dorm.

Hunk and Pidge are too busy with their own finals and internships to bring up the recent tragedy and it’s sadly a relief. Seeing them less now makes it more likely that they'll forget and just let him lick his wounds in peace.

The constant studying and presenting, prep for presenting, and the seemingly endless slew of papers, projects, and exams keep his mind off of everything except for the most basic things needed for survival like food, water and sheet masks. Anything more than that that wasn’t school work or work work? Inconsequential.

Nothing matters much when you have two twenty page papers due back to back and a presentation to prepare for both papers, not including the models they need and all of the notes and photos from his fieldwork that he has to transcribe and arrange to turn into something he can actually hand in.

He doesn’t even have time to think about Kevin.

He doesn’t.

“Okay, so you're going.”

“Pidge I just wanna stay home and rest today. I had six hours worth of tests today plus work, I'm beat.”

“I respect that, we'll stop by McDonald's on the way for a snack. But until then, put on your eyeliner and let's go.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“But you’re going.” 

 

Just after finals on the last night of classes is the biggest party of the semester and normally Lance would be all over it. But after the trauma of finals, and only finals, he wants to just lay down and rest and eat a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies till he eventually falls asleep watching kdramas.

Pidge, however, is insistent. “You've been moping around for days and it hasn't been finals! Normally I don't care about emotional crap but you need to live life and go out, especially  _ tonight _ of all nights!”

“You don't even like to go out; why are trying to drag me out of my sadness burrito?”

“Because that's what friends do!”

“I agree with Pidge; you should go. Having fun is good for your health. Plus she needs your help to woo the girl from her econ class.”

“Hunk, this has nothing to do with Shila!”

“Correction, she wants you to help her woo the  _ other  _ girl from her econ class.”

“Hunk!"

 

Lance, abandons his sadness burrito in favor of his makeshift vanity, “I didn't know you needed help wooing someone, that's totally different!”

It's not, he still doesn't want to go but he wants to be there for his friend so maybe it won't be so bad. It’ll be weird going without a date, but he could deal with that. Just because he got kicked to the curb like last week's news didn't mean he had to mope around, not when he could play wingman for his romantically inept friend.

The more he thought about it the more it made sense.

Sadness? Giving up on having a social life? That's what finals week was for. How can he let some guy leave him heartbroken and alone like that? Plus if he's not going for himself he can really excuse it easily. He can't let a friend down, especially not one as hopeless as Pidge.

 

His and Kevin's last conversation had been more than a month ago and it still aches like a fresh wound to think about so he doesn't, and he didn't, and he sure as hell won't tonight. He has other problems to deal with than someone who didn't even want to be with him.

Hooking Pidge and Econ girl up? Definitely worth far more of his time. 

 

Tonight was going to be all him. Lance was going to dance, drink, laugh, wingman more powerfully than ever before, and live it up till the Uber took him home for the night.

He deserved it after all.

 

* * *

 

"Lance!" He lights up when he hears his best friend's voice.

 

"Hunk!" They embrace as if they haven't seen each other in years, close to tears.

 

"It's been so long. I've missed you bud!" Hunk holds him tight, cherishing every minute.

 

"You two live together. It’s been less than half an hour." Pidge rolls her eyes, watching the dramatic display. 

 

"Yeah, barely! We've been doing presentations and test runs non stop for my final project. Engineering kept us apart."

“And parking the van definitely kept us apart!” 

 

"And they kept putting me in the flight simulator. I'd rather be in a Hunk's hugs simulator!" 

 

"I'd rather not have to hear this." 

 

Hunk and Lance stick their tongues out at her. "You just don't understand our relationship. You'll understand when you're older." 

 

Hunk nods sagely. "You won't understand a brotherly bond like this till you've put a good four years into a relationship." 

 

"I think I'll pass on that one. You two put too much work into it." 

 

Around them, the party is just barely beginning. Partygoers trickle in slow enough that by 10:30 it looks like the party might just be a bust even with the open bar.  Econ girl is nowhere to be found and Pidge tries, she really tries, not to sulk about it.

Hunk tries to bring her other girls from around the dance floor but Pidge only has eyes for one lady and she just won’t show. 

 

Around 11:45 it picks up in a big way. Beyonce's  _ Freakum Dress  _ comes on and everyone damn near loses their minds rushing to the dance floor, Lance and Hunk included. The dance floor had never been more full than it was just then. From where they're dancing he can see more and more people tweeting and sending snaps to their friends basically begging them to join the fun. 

 

After that it's amazing. People pour into the club so when Lance is on his fourth (?) drink the party hits its first wind. He’s finally having fun tonight, even Pidge is dancing with some cute shy girl, not from Econ but still adorable. 

 

"Hey so,” Hunk starts, looking at him with concern,“I know you're a little tipsy so, like, don't look towards the door or anything but I need you to know that Kevin is here with his band." Hunk stares at Lance nervously, expecting some kind of huge negative reaction, but it takes a while to hit him, and by then it feels like he's been splashed with a bucket of cold water. 

 

"Holy shit!" His good mood is completely soured and he almost wants to go home. 

Almost. 

 

"Is he alone?" He feels like he's crazy to even ask that, to even care. But he can't help the feeling that grows in his chest when he thinks about how badly he doesn't want to feel this time. 

 

"I mean he's with his band so no?"

 

"No, Hunk! I mean is he with a date?" His heart is racing, leave it to Kevin to show up unwanted like this. To ruin his good night.

 

"Not that I could tell, but I think we're good. Plus we could sneak out through the back if you wanna leave." 

 

Lance groans, burying his face in his hands. He needs, like, a gallon of water before he can even begin to deal with this situation. 

 

Hunk keeps looking at him with concern almost hovering in his personal space but in that familiar way that's just right. 

 

Somewhere at the bar, Pidge is texting furiously, the cute girl still on her arm, glancing at Kevin every so often with a dangerous look in her eyes. Hunk does not envy him if she’s giving him that look. 

 

When Lance looks up again it's with a sense of newfound determination. He can turn this around. He can. He can make this night work for him, he just needs confidence. Confidence and a date.

Oh fuck.

A date, god!

His eyes dart around the room, looking for someone, anyone, hot and approachable enough that he could make this work. He can’t let Kevin of all people see him dateless and drunk at the bar, it’s too pathetic to even imagine. He’s not sure he’d be able to stop himself from crying this many drinks in.

 

Without even thinking he makes a beeline for a guy sitting at the far end of the bar. He’s alone, nursing a beer in a dark corner just kind of observing the party. Even if he says no to this no one will notice this far back.

 

“So hey, you don’t know me but that’s not really important for my next question. Will you be my boyfriend for the next, uhhhh, hour and a half? I’m Lance by the way and my asshole ex, Kevin is by the stage watching so it’d be really helpful if you kissed me so I wouldn't have to deal with that level of humiliation the first night of summer break, yeah?”

Keith doesn’t really  _ do  _ parties. They’re not really his wheelhouse. Too much noise, cheap alcohol, and drunk idiots all in one place? Yeah, usually he’d pass,  _ hard.  _ But Shiro’s been…naggy lately.

“Oh, you spend too much time alone in your room.”

“Keith, why don’t any friends come over?”

“Are you dating anyone?”

“Keith, why are you sharpening knives at 3 am?”

“Keith... you have to wash your socks...you know that right?”

All day every day. It’s… it’s a lot.

So he’d take the sensory hell of a loud, sweaty party, over that any night, especially the last night of classes. If he stayed home it could be the first night of a holiday full of uncomfortable questions and blind dates with “nice girls” dad found at church.

He figures if he goes out tonight and at least pretends to socialize with peers that it could make up for an entire semester of hermitude.

Probably.

And even if it doesn't it's unexpected and different enough to get Shiro off his back and make it look like he's making an effort to be more “social” to his dad.

Plus there's free beer.

He could suffer a free hours of a god awful party if he was at least buzzed for it.

He settles onto a stool at the bar, eyes casting over the crowd every now and again. The music's too loud, they've been playing some weird electrofunk for thirty minutes straight and a group of girls close to his seat are trying to grind on each other to the beat. It's… it's something.

Halfway through his second beer the music changes, Beyoncé, and people start to really dance. He's almost enjoying himself. Almost.

“... hey, you don't know me but…” then someone's talking to him, really fast, cheeks warm with something like humiliation. He can't catch it all. But he gets the gist. Maybe.

This is a lot.

“I’m sorry?”

Those blue, blue eyes look at him with such distress but, once again, this is a lot. The club us way too loud for this guy to expect him to have heard what he was saying.

He literally just sat down.

“Please be my boyfriend for the next hour and a half, hell even the next fifteen minutes would do!”

Oh.

With that Keith takes a swig of his drink, because wow, this is really a lot. It hits him in waves. Jerk boyfriend, crash. Be my boyfriend, crash. Kevin, crash. Kiss me---

Wait--?

“Where is he?” he feels himself ask the question but it's definitely not something he would normally ask.

Lance leans in closer, letting his elbow rest against the bar counter, Keith ignores the way his shirt falls away from his shoulder, focusing on his eyes instead.

“He’s by the stage, he’s pretty tall, red hair, green eyes, wearing hipster glasses.”

Keith peers over Lance’s shoulder, making eye contact with a smirking Kevin, surrounded by gear and what he thinks are his bandmates.

Oh.

That's Kevin.

Kevin who apparently hurt Lance.

Kevin who cut him off in the parking lot. That Kevin. The same Kevin who flipped him the bird as he walked into the club.

Huh. Interesting.

Fuck Kevin.

He looks back at Lance, taking a moment to think this whole thing through. It’s not every day a cute leggy brunet walks up to Keith literally begging for a kiss and he might even be amiable to the idea of it.

Plus it would get Shiro and dad off of his back. And it's super social to kiss, right? All well-adjusted boys do it. They all kiss. Their boyfriends especially. Plus you don't get a boyfriend unless you’re social. And not serial killer-y.

But still… he literally just sat down. Some stranger begging him to be their boyfriend suddenly?  That could be sketchy. Is it worse to do this with someone you just met or better?

The lighting's pretty ideal for a hookup if that's what this is, and the beer is pretty good to say it's free, but is it this good? Keith doesn’t have to do this. He could just tell Lance to piss off and get back to his drink.

Alone.

At this party, he doesn't even want to be at.

Hmm.

He looks back a Kevin briefly, Kevin who’s still watching with that smirk on his face, Kevin who just looks like he needs to be punched. Really needs to be punched so bad. Why would he have a face so fucking punchable?

Then he looks back at Lance, taking him in. His face is cut with a sharp frown and it might be a  trick of the light but it looks as though he’ll burst into tears any second.

Keith didn't  plan on making anyone cry tonight. In fact, he really didn't have much planned tonight at all.  What would it hurt?

  
  


He licks his lips, setting down his drink properly, glances back at Kevin one last time, this time wearing a smirk of his own. “He's watching right now…”

Lance pales a little, looking like he wants to shrink down into nothing.  At least, that's what Keith thinks he looks like.

Keith decides he doesn't like that; he hates that sad look almost as he hates Kevin's stupid face. Still, he surprises himself, reaching out to pull Lance in close, still staring into those blue, blue eyes, “Usually I don’t do this…” He takes gentle hold of his chin.  “but…” ‘I have no idea what I'm doing and petty revenge is my passion.’

God, who let him go out unsupervised?

He leans in close, letting Lance close the final distance. They kiss easily, soft and slow and perfect like they know each other already. The deep boom of the music quiets when they touch, turning into a low soothing hum. He can feel Lance smiling against his mouth, hands reaching up to grasp at the collar of his shirt.

Despite himself, he glances over at Kevin from the corner of his eye, takes in his red, angry face with something like glee. He wraps one arm around Lance’s waist, pulling him in close as he closes his eyes. Lance lets out a sound of delight, leaning in for just a bit more, which Keith is more than happy to give him.

 

Spite has never given a greater reward.

He’s not sure how much time passes before he thinks,  _ ‘This is going well. Too well maybe?’ _ He's never done this before, never felt like this, never really  _ kissed _ anyone. Ever. Accidentally or otherwise. And now here he is. Out at night. Doing this.

Yeah.

When they come up for air Lance has a silly, blissful little expression on his face. It’s the kind of look that let’s Keith know he made the right choice.

So he makes it again.

And again.

And.

Again.

* * *

Across the room, Kevin is fuming silently. His bandmates give him plenty of room, plenty of space to feel whatever it was he needed to feel, none of them are willing to enter his line of fire. Not tonight.  

He stalks across the dance floor, face red and jaw tight with something that bigger than anger. He can’t believe that Lance would do this. That he’d be so selfish and thoughtless to just kiss someone like that in front of him, in front of  _ everyone  _ .

Sure, they broke up, but it was like two weeks ago! Definitely not long enough for Lance to be tonguing down some rando no one’s ever seen before at 11:45 on a Wednesday night. Didn’t he realize his reputation was a stake here?

This wasn’t even the first time they’d broken up. They were supposed to be back together by now. Lance was supposed to be  _ his  _ date, not some short emo that still shopped at Hot Topic unironically.

Keith notices he’s there before Lance does. He gives Kevin a smug little wink, going back to the kiss without a second glance. He doesn't let Lance pull away or turn his head for a long while. Tries to prolong the happy moments before he has to see some red-faced prick try to intimidate them.

It's obvious that he feels Kevin's eyes boring a hole into the both of them, he’s a little more tense, a little less giddy than before. But Keith doesn't think he needs to see him looking as if he’ll burst with rage. He doesn’t know him but he gets the distinct feeling that he doesn’t deserve that kind of mistreatment.

They pull away for a moment to catch their breath, but he pushes back in, kissing him one last time, long and slow enough that Kevin has to stand there, awkwardly stewing until they pull away.

He's not expecting the dopey, happy look on Lance's face but it makes him feel better than pissing off Kevin ever could and he’s not sure why.

"So, Lance,” Kevin greets him with gritted teeth,“good to see you again. How've you been?"

God, what mess did he get himself into?

The frown is gone now, Keith notices, replaced by the biggest, fakest smile he's ever seen his entire life.

Jesus.

Lance smiles back, genuine and bright, leaning against Keith's side, "I've been good, thanks, it's great to see you back with your band again."

Kevin scoffs, "These clowns are just back up. They'll show up to any gig if there's girls and booze."

‘ _Oh my god_ ,’ Keith thinks, suddenly seized by an almost irrepressible desire to punch him in the mouth, ‘ _I have to fight him. I can't_ **_not_** _fight him._

Lance laughs politely, "This must be the perfect setup for them then."

“Mhm, yeah, so, who’s your friend here?” 

 

Lance blushed, suddenly it dawned on him that he didn’t actually know the name of the person he’d been kissing for the past half hour.

“The name’s Keith, I’m Lance’s boyfriend.” He reaches out a hand to shake, only for Kevin to make a slightly disgusted face at him, ignoring the offered hand.

_ ‘Fight me right now, right the fuck now!’  _ He thinks but decides just to laugh it off. Rubbing Lance’s side affectionately. The two share a warm look and a quick kiss.

“Nice to meet you,” Kevin forces the words out through gritted teeth, fuming right in front of them as if he’s not sure whether or not he wants to scream or punch Keith in the mouth. Both might feel great.

“Likewise.” He looks at Lance. “Want to head home babe? It’s getting a little late and you have that thing tomorrow, right?”

“Thing?” 

 

Keith gives him a pointed look.

“Oh my god the thing! Kevin, we’ve got to go! I totally forgot I have this big presentation tomorrow; let’s catch up next time, yeah?”

They’re gone before Kevin can even respond, out the door in a flurry of movement before he can even say, “What the fuck.”  

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm excited to share this with all of y'all. I don't really do WIPs so bear with me. I have a lot of notes and an outline done so this won't be abandoned or anything. 
> 
> Please tell me if you like it and what you like about it. Ciao!


End file.
